User talk:Zoupan/Drobnjak Rebellion

The Drobnjak Rebellion was a rebellion against Ottoman rule that broke out in the tribe of Drobnjak in the Sanjak of Herzegovina in 1805, during the start of the First Serbian Uprising in Serbia. It was planned that all of Montenegro join the fight against the Ottomans.

Background
After the First Serbian Uprising broke out in the Sanjak of Smederevo, the tribes of Drobnjak (Drobnjaci), Nikšić (Nikšići), Piva (Pivljani), Morača (Moračani), Rudine (Rudinjani) and Gacko were ready to rise up against the Ottomans. They asked Montenegrin metropolitan Petar I Petrović Njegoš for help, having the archimandrite of the Morača monastery, Aksentije Radonjić, sending him a letter dated 7 June 1804. It is said in the letter that the Nikšići, Drobnjaci and Pivljani ask him of 400 warriors, or more, to help them. Another letter to the metropolitan, signed by Nikšić, Drobnjak (vojvoda Stojan Karadžić and priest Marko Tomić), Piva, Gacko and Rudine chieftains, speaks of Ottoman injustice and the need of rising up against the Turks, 'now being the time'.

Metropolitan Petar I was however unable to help, as he was under Russian decision not to take any action against the Ottomans; the Russian–Ottoman alliance signed in 1799 was still in effect (until 1807). Russian deputy in Montenegro, Marko Ivelić, also adviced (29 August 1804) the archimandrite of the Piva monastery, Arsenije Gagović, to 'teach the people' to be peaceful and obedient towards the Porte, the 'friend of Russia'. In a similar way, Russian deputy in Ragusa, Karlo Fonton, wrote to Gagović in September. Meanwhile, Serbian rebel leader Karađorđe and other commanders wrote several times to the people of Piva and Drobnjak, such as in August 1804, when they were asked to unite, "... my brothers, unite your weapons with ours and hunt the angrily enemy of ours, again we will be free ...".

In 1804, a group of Drobnjaci under priest Milutin Cerović from Tušinja and Mijo Godijelj from Godijelje raided in Upper Morača, where they joined the local Uskoci in Ljevište, among whom were Gavrilo Šibalija and Ilija Tomić. The Drobnjaci, Moračani and Uskoci formed hajduk bands that raided in Drobnjak, Piva, Nikšić and around the Tara, and burned down Ottoman inns (han) and incited the population to revolt.

As evident by documents in the Viennese Archives, five Serbian Orthodox monasteries in the Sanjak of Herzegovina organized a rebel army of 19,000 soldiers under the command of 43 harambaše (hajduk commanders), already in 1805. A signal for increased action against the Ottoman stronghold in Kolašin, and due to unrest in Morača and conflicts between the Morača, Rovca, Uskoci, and Vasojevići with Kolašin, and especially the strong echo of the Serbian Uprising, the rebellious Drobnjaci were encouraged to rise up against the Ottomans, and did so, in March 1805.

Rebellion
Drobnjaci and Herzegovinian hajduks attacked Turks and pillaged in Herzegovina and Bosnia. Petar I and Ivelić were unable to calm them down. On 13 June 1805, Arsenije Gagović wrote that priest Milutin Cerović and Mijo Godijelj were the main instigators of turning the Drobnjaci against the Turks. Ivelić again recommended to the Drobnjaci to not rise up, calling them "acting crazy in this time".

The Drobnjak bands began their actions primarily towards the Pljevlja area, thus this area was also caught up in the unrests. The rebellion that broke out in Drobnjak, despite Ivelić's stance, expanded into some of the neighbouring tribes, firstly Morača and Nikšić.

In the beginning of October, after the expansion of the rebellion, the Ottoman government dispatched Suleiman Pasha to suppress it. Suleiman Pasha was one of the most courageous and resolute Ottoman commanders at that time. Pe­tro­ni­je Da­mja­no­vić, the hegumen of Ostrog, informed Petar I on the large Ottoman army assembling in Drobnjak under Suleiman Pasha, setting out to attack Drobnjak. Da­mja­no­vić asked Petar I to help the Drobnjaci, who "prayed for aid from the Brđani and Montenegrins". Suleiman had failed to peacefully solve the problem from Foča, and thus set out with an army to put down the rebellion in Drobnjak.

The Ottoman army clashed with the rebels under Drobnjak vojvoda Stojan Karadžić at Kuliće in Piva. The ca. 2,000 rebel warriors, made up also of Herzegovinians and Brđani, had awaited them, and in a great battle defeated and pushed them to Crkvine, then retreated to Pirin Do. However, the Ottomans used a Pivan captive for location and suddenly returned at night and attacked the resting rebels at dawn, killing Karadžić and several notable Drobnjaci. The rebels had panicked and were defeated. Eight decapitated heads, including those of Karadžić, Janko Cerović, a knez from Morača, and five other rebel leaders, were sent to Travnik (the capital of the Bosnia Eyalet). According to A. Luburić some 280 rebels were killed, while Ottoman sources claimed around 40.

By January 1806, the Drobnjak rebellion was suppressed, and Suleiman Pasha had the rebel leaders punished, and forced the population of Drobnjak and Morača to pay tribute.

Aftermath
Suleiman Pasha went on to defeat Serbian rebels under the command of Radič Petrović near Studenica in March 1806. From 1806 on, Petar I had a firm relation with Karađorđe, who suggested military cooperation and expanding the revolutionary movement on a wider scope. This however came late, as organizing military cooperation would be hard. Rebel bands from Old Herzegovina and Brda raided across Bosnia and Stari Vlah in 1806, then joined up with the Serbian Revolutionary Army in Topola. These bands participated in the successful Siege of Belgrade (1806). From Drobnjak, an unit of 33 fighters had joined up with Karađorđe in Belgrade.

Legacy
Novelist Dušan Baranin (1903–1978) used characters from the Drobnjak Rebellion in Đavo u manastiru, a novel about the First Serbian Uprising.